Senior Staff Software Engineer

About the role

ServiceNow is seeking a technical leader to build and scale agentic AI systems within our enterprise platform. You will own the architecture and delivery of complex features while mentoring engineers on production-grade AI development. This role demands deep technical judgment and the ability to navigate ambiguity while maintaining a high standard of quality. You will be responsible for driving the technical vision for critical AI initiatives that impact our platform and customers. Collaboration with cross-functional partners will be essential to align on goals and deliver impactful solutions. You will help define best practices that shape how AI is built and operated across the organization. Your work will influence both the immediate product outcomes and the long-term technical direction of our AI capabilities.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Design and implement reusable, high-performance software components that serve as foundational building blocks for agentic workflows.
• Partner with product managers to transform requirements into technical architecture from design to delivery, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
• Build extensible user interfaces that adapt to specific customer needs, providing flexible and configurable experiences.
• Develop and maintain automated testing strategies, including functional, regression, and performance benchmarks to validate system behavior.
• Lead code and design reviews to ensure high standards for maintainability, scalability, and security across the codebase.
• Mentor team members on building and evolving AI-powered software, sharing expertise in modern development practices and patterns.
• Promote engineering craftsmanship and knowledge sharing across the organization through documentation, talks, and collaborative sessions.
• Evaluate and integrate frontier AI SDKs such as OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google, including prompt engineering strategies and model evaluation techniques.
• Implement robust RAG patterns, optimize vector stores, and design hybrid search solutions to improve retrieval accuracy and system performance.
• Drive the delivery of production-grade agentic systems, focusing on multi-agent orchestration, tool calling, memory management, planning loops, and failure recovery mechanisms.

Requirements

• 12 years of software engineering experience with a Bachelor degree; or 8 years with a Master degree; or 5 years with a PhD; or equivalent experience.
• Strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems that enable you to solve complex technical challenges.
• Proven experience designing and operating production-grade agentic systems, including multi-agent orchestration, tool calling, memory, planning loops, and failure recovery.
• Proficiency in Python, with the ability to write clean, efficient, and well-tested code that scales in production environments.
• Experience with frontier AI SDKs such as OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google, including prompt engineering and model evaluation practices.
• Familiarity with RAG patterns, vector stores, and hybrid search approaches to build effective and efficient retrieval systems.
• Demonstrated technical leadership in architecture and mentoring, guiding engineers toward successful outcomes and growth.
• Ability to thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous, startup-like environments while maintaining focus on long-term goals and quality.
• Experience shipping AI systems within enterprise software, understanding the constraints and requirements of large-scale deployments.
• Commitment to inclusive practices and collaboration, ensuring diverse perspectives are considered in technical decisions.

Nice to have

• Proficiency in a systems language such as Go, Java, or C++, enabling contributions to performance-critical components and infrastructure.
• Experience with agent frameworks like LangChain or LlamaIndex, leveraging existing tools to accelerate development and consistency.
• Knowledge of multi-agent coordination patterns like A2A or MCP, enhancing the capabilities of complex agent deployments.
• Experience with AI observability tools for tracing and cost tracking, providing insights into system behavior and performance.

Practical notes

• Employment is subject to export control regulations where applicable.
• For application accommodations, contact globaltalentss@servicenow.com.

About the company

It all started in sunny San Diego, California in 2004 when a visionary engineer, Fred Luddy, saw the potential to transform how we work. Fast forward to today - ServiceNow stands as a global market leader, bringing innovative AI-enhanced technology to over 8,100 customers, including 85% of the Fortune 500.